Teachers block major roads and port access in southern Catalonia amid strike

Teachers from Camp de Tarragona, Terres de l'Ebre, and Penedès blocked major roads and access to the Port of Tarragona on Tuesday morning on the second day of a week-long strike.

Protests in Montblanc at the AP-2 exit toward the N-240, the N-240 itself, and in Tarragona at the A-27 access to the port lasted roughly two hours.

At around 10 am, demonstrators began marching on foot toward a midday rally at Tarragona's Plaça Imperial Tàrraco.

Access to the port reopened shortly after 10 am, allowing the dozens of trucks that had been blocked to enter.

Núria, a teacher taking part in the Montblanc protest, told the Catalan News Agency (ACN) that the demonstration aims to "reclaim the prestige" of the profession and demand improvements for an education system she described as "in decline."

She called for smaller class sizes, "real" resources to improve the quality of education, and reduced bureaucracy.

"Education is the future, and without good education we have no good future," she said.

Other protests also took place across the region, including a slow-moving car march toward Tortosa and street blockades in El Vendrell.

Week of strikes

Teachers in different parts of Catalonia are striking on different days before a full strike on Friday.

Thousands of teachers took to the streets of central Barcelona on Monday to demand improved working conditions and higher salaries, criticizing an agreement between the education department and the unions CCOO and UGT as insufficient.

Other unions – USTEC, Professors de Secundària, and CGT – did not sign the pact and maintained their calls for strike action this week, joined by the Intersindical union.